New Year's Eve

 

Sister Winter blew this in for a few hours on Saturday. We get maybe one or two good snows each year, some years none at all. It's very exciting despite the fact that not many folks know how to drive in it, myself included. Myself especially. One year I actually slid into three fire hydrants. Two in the same day!

But, oh, how much we love these powdered-sugar flurries! Tiny specks of glitter in the lamplight. Featherdown falling in the quiet dusk. How we are hoping for more. 

For some reason, I have yet to make a Dutch baby pancake that puffs up properly. Mine always balloon and deflate in the oddest places, but are delicious nonetheless. I used this recipe, and we ate it with sour cream and cherry jam while watching the air get thick with snowflakes. Bliss. 

BIG day today. Four adults and eight children all coming to our home for New Year's Eve, sleeping who on earth knows where, celebrating with fireworks and costumes and champagne. We've been doing it this way for five years now, rotating between three different houses. This is our second time to host. I am SO EXCITED!!! Traditions like these make my world go around. I'm cooking a big pot of corn and potato chowder with bacon and putting together egg and cheese casseroles for the morning. Manley's gathering wood for the fire pit and bourbon for the egg nog. Each year we watch video footage from the previous years and speculate about how quickly the children grow and how funny we all are. I can't wait to see my friends.

Wishing you all the happiest end of the year, and a most excellent start to 2013.